Speaker 1: The first weekend of official business was successful for Raging
Cagen's Football as they add some commitments to the twenty
twenty seven class. Let's break it all down here on
Raging Rundown. What's good, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to
another episode of Raging Rundown, the show where you will
know all things ul sports. I'm your guy, JaMarcus Fitzpatrick,
but you know you can always call me fits. And
in today's episode, we'll be talking about the commitments that
Raging Cajun Football has received to their twenty twenty seven class,
as well as a pair of bullpen arms that Raging
Cagen's Baseball has added to their team for next season. So,
as we've talked about in previous episodes, we can which
you can go and check that out. This past weekend
or I guess the past couple of days has been
the first official weekend of official visits for Rage Incag's Football.
They have a couple of weekend schedule. I have some
names listed down of what those guys will be for
the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: But as it stood, you.
Speaker 1: Had seven players to come in and have official visits
this past weekend, you had Summer Creek dB Caleb White,
Very Day wide receiver Robert Taylor University lab d Lyman
Mason Smith, Saint Edge Jock Robischow, Shadow Creek tight end
Bryce Coleman STM safety Landon or t And then I
was recently told while I was posting about it that PJ.
Mackeon Junior was also on an official visit there as
well this past weekend. But you were extremely successful because
you got three players to commit while they were on
their official visits. One actually just announcing right after I
started recording this episode, So I initially had it as
football gets a pair of commitments, and I just had
to change into football gets commitments after official visits.
Speaker 2: I'm probably going to be checking my.
Speaker 1: Phone as I'm recording this episode to make sure nobody
else comes back and circles back and announced their commitment
as well. So we'll start with the initial guy that
announced his commitment, which was a defensive lineman, Mason Smith,
the university high defensive lineman. For him, he was initially
offered back on June fifteenth of last year, so this
is a year in the making process of getting him
to commit to your program. If I'm assuming what happened
is that he went to a prospect camp. They are
holding prospect camps right now for the twenty eighth class.
He probably went to a prospect camp. They liked what
they saw, they gave him an offer. He was the
third school that he received an offer from. And in
the process, now you're beating out the likes of Southern
miss Liberty, TWU Lane, South Alabama, and Arkansas State. So
all very linear schools in terms of the level that
you're competing against. You beat them out to be able
to get this commitment. Obviously, he was a player that
was on an official visit this weekend. He is listed
as a three star. He's the thirty eighth best player
in the state according to twenty four to seven Sports,
and it's the second rank defensive lineman in the state
of Louisiana. So you're getting a really talented player standing
at six foot three, two hundred and eighty pounds. If
I'm not mistaken, let me go back to his Twitter
account just so I can confirm that six foot three,
two hundred and eighty pounds and runs of five flats
in the forty and he also plays baseball as a
first baseman. So he's got some athleticism to him. If
I had to guess, he's probably going to be more
of an interior defensive lineman, something like what we see
with Fitzgerald West and Maxie Bodwin, players of that caliber.
So adding him to the mix is really big for
you because we know that the defensive line plays in
a forty on set, but they don't just play with
four guys. They like to rotate as many guys as possible.
So adding someone young to the group is someone we
could potentially see him slowly working his way in through
special teams, maybe getting a rapper to here and there,
and eventually becoming a guy that helps you to be
able to win ball games on Saturdays. So kudos to
him for announcing his commitment. I reached out to him
to see what went into his decision. I have not
heard back from him just yet, but once I do
hear something, I'll either talk about it at on my
day job at KTC, or I'll talk about it here
on the pod. The next player that announced his commitment
was Landon or Ti, who is a local product. So
he is staying at home and coming up in a
situation for you where you identified him as somebody that
you wanted very quickly, and he committed very quickly. He
received his offer on May the fourth. He had other
offers from the likes of Nichols Incarnate Word in Northwestern
State so FCS school. So this is his biggest offer
that he head up until this point. You got him
on an official visit and he commits. Getting the footprint
of a local product, in my opinion, is always going
to be really big because obviously the majority of this
team's roster is comprised of guys in the state of Louisiana.
But there's nothing better than being able to get a
local guy. And like we've talked about before on this podcast,
it's not that they don't recruit local guys. But when
you think about some of the guys that are in
this same class, you think of brayln Cale, you think
of Kuran Eugene, you think of you know, so many
other guys that are in this twenty twenty seventh class.
Speaker 2: They're receiving powerful offers.
Speaker 1: So once you kind of get outbitted in a sense,
it's not that you're giving up, it's just that you
know you're probably not gonna get them. You still cultivate
that relationship in case he goes somewhere and it doesn't
work out there and he wants to transfer back home.
Like what we saw with Walker Howard, what we saw
with Fitzgerald West. We've seen it time and time again.
The guys will go to bigger schools, it doesn't work
out out there for them, and they come back because
they have great relationships with your coaching staff. So you
still want to recruit the kid. It's just ultimately sometimes
you're not in the ballpark to be able to land
the commitment, but you land a commitment with him. This
past season, he played in twelve games. He was first
team All District and also All stayed for the LFCA,
which I think is the Louisiana Football Coaches Association. If
I'm remembering right off the top of my head, six
for two, one hundred and ninety pounds As a safety,
he had two interceptions, ten pass breakups, one hundred and
twenty two tackles, forty eight of them being solo. So
he really has a nose for the football. And if
I had to guess, he would probably be kind of
that secondary safety that's near near the box in the
Cajun's defensive scheme when they go in the four to
two five set, because they're based out of a four
to three, but when they take one linebacker out and
they put an extra safety in based on those type
of tackling numbers, that's probably going to be the type
of safety that he would be in this particular ski.
So you get a guy that is a local product
to commit to your school after getting a extended an
offer to him very early and being able to make
that happen, that's really huge. So I asked him what
went into his decision, and he said, the overall staff
and how everybody treated you good from the second that
you were in the building. So I'm probably going to
try to talk to him in person to get a
little bit more insight about what went into his decision
and how the visit as a whole went. So that's
another commitment. Kudos to him for making his decision to
become a Raging Cajun that you add to the class
as well. And the last commitment that Football received as
of today and he announced it probably within the last
hour is Summer Creek dB Caleb White. We talked about
him in a previous episode that he is a cornerback
and as I'm looking up some information about him as well,
his father is Reggie White, a running back that played
in the NFL. Not the great defensive lineman that we
all know and love as well, but his dad also
did play in the NFL. He originally went to Oklahoma
State and was undrafted in two thousand and one. Spent
a couple of years in the league. So he has
a football pedigree and background and knows what it takes
to get to that type of level because he has
that example right there in his household. He originally received
his offer from the Cajuns back in March. That was
his twelfth offer, so he is a hot commodity. Getting
him to commit to you. You beat out the likes
of Apps State in Texas State, North Texas, Duke Texas
el Passle, which actually has an official visit set with
him for next weekend. So it'll be interesting to see
if he will still go on that visit if he
will cancel it. I have not heard from him just
yet about what that decision will entel. But winning these
type of recruiting battles is really important, you know, with
college football twenty six or twenty five and now twenty seven.
Coming out, we saw a lot of that usage happening
in recruiting battles where you're going head to head with
different schools, and when they are on the same level
as you, or they're comparable with the same type of
school as you are, it's really big when you're able
to win these recruiting battles bring guys into your program
when they're quality players. He is five to ten, one
hundred and seventy one pounds. This past season as a corner,
he only had seventeen targets his way. He allowed just
two catches the entire season, no touchdowns, five interceptions, with
one of them being a pick six. He had ten
pass breakups, two tackles for loss in twenty one tackles.
So he's not a guy that's gonna come up and
make a whole lot of tackles for you. He's gonna
come down and shut down one side of the field
for you, which is really really big in your defense. Right,
you have a Brent Gordon Junior, who's a man and
man type of corner on one side. You have an
Avery Demrie, you have a Jeremiah Moses, so you have
a lot of cornerbacks that can play in pressman situations.
It appears that that's gonna be the type of corner
that this young man can be for you as well.
I mean, he kind of has that that Eric Gearer
type build in the sense of what he is, and
who knows, maybe he could materialize and become something like
that too, especially when it comes to the return game.
So you add three commits from this class after going
through your first weekend of official visits. So now you
are up to nine players in this class and they
are as follows. Shallow Creek tight end Bryce Coleman, who
was also on an official visit this past weekend. A
Oyls defensive lineman Kobe Smith. He'll be in town next weekend.
This coming weekend. That is Faraday wide receiver Rob Taylor.
He was on a visit this weekend. Westbrook quarterback Tam Anderson.
He will be on a visit next weekend. Angleton offensive
lineman Noah ERNs next weekend. Black Man and wide receiver
John Walker. University lab defensive lineman Mason Smith, lend Nor Ti,
and Caleb White are all a part of your class.
So now things are coming even more closer to form
your one commitment away from having double digit commits here
in the twenty twenty seven class, and the work is
just continuing to go along, right. You get guys in,
you get commitments very early, and now the thing is
being able to hold the rope, as we always say,
because as these guys continue to play through their senior seasons,
somebody can see them and can offer them, and they
can blow up and become a four star, even a
five star.
Speaker 2: We've seen things like this happen overnight.
Speaker 1: You think about a guy like a Marquez Davis, who's
a Northwest product here in Opelousis. You will originally offer him,
he gets an offer from Lane Kiffin, goes on an
official visit, and now he's projected to commit to the Tigers.
So that's not to say that this could happen, that
this will happen, but it's a possibility that it always
could happen. So the Cajuns are going to have to
hold the rope with these nine commits. Continue to cultivate
these relationships. Let these young men know, hey, we want
you to be a part of our program and if
you come here, you will be a part of something
building something special.
Speaker 2: Towards the future. So you're up to.
Speaker 1: Nine commits here in your twenty twenty seven class. You'll have,
i believe, two more weekends coming up with the official
visits that you have going on. But football was not
the only program that received some commitments, as we also
saw baseball get a pair of commitments. And they are
coming from a familiar place in the Sun Belt, and
they have a lot of familiarity with your coaching staff
as well. We'll discuss all of those things, what they
will bring to the table, and who they are when
we come back here on Rage and Rundown. Hey, guys,
thank you so much for tuning in to another episode
of Raging Rundown. We're going to get back into the
action in just a second, but before we do, please
do me a favorite. If you're watching this on YouTube,
please like the video, share it, and leave a comment
down below. But most importantly, make sure you subscribe to
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the show, and leave us a review because that'll help
us get in front of more Raging Cajun fans like yourself. So,
as I mentioned before the break, Raging Cagen's Baseball also
received a pair of commitments from guys out of the
transfer portal. We've talked about some of the junior college guys,
the high school signees that they've already added as commits.
Now they're working through the portal, and coach Matt Diggs
talked about it after they're lost to Mississippi State how
he felt that if he could add some strong arms
to the bullpen that he already has, that this team
could be in line for having a goal of hosting
a regional in twenty twenty seven. So they're one step
closer to that as they get commitments from two pictures
that are transferring from Marshall, which is the place that
pitching coach Taylor Sanderford came from, so they are very
familiar with your pitching coach, which is a huge positive
to what you're having building in your program. The first
picture is Blaine Albright. He is a lefty. He has
two more years of eligibility. He stands at six foot three,
he's two hundred and twenty five pounds. He originally signed
with Indiana and red shirted that first year in Bloomington
and then transferred to Marshall and played there for two
seasons in his first season with the Herd, he was
one to oher. He had a four to twenty four
ERA and seventeen appearances, gave up fourteen hits, five walks,
struck out twenty and seventeen innings, and his opponents only
hit a two to twelve batting average against him. But
then coach Sanderford obviously last season leaves and things didn't
go as well for Albright. He was one for three.
He had a seven point nine to two ERA over
fourteen outings, including four starts and twenty five innings. He
allowed thirty hits, twenty five walks, and struck out twenty three.
He talked about in an article with Kevin Foote that
he was struggling with a pulled hamstring in his first
outing of the season and things kind of went downhill
from there with him. But he talked about how much
he appreciated coach Sanderford just as the coach that he
truly is. And I reached out to him and asked
him what went into his decision, and he said, coach
Sanderford playing and simple played under him and Marshall and
he's the best.
Speaker 2: Coach I've ever had.
Speaker 1: So you have a guy on your staff that has
cultivated a relationship well enough, and that's that's going to
be a key component to a lot of your recruiting battles,
is that if you build great relationships and it's bigger
than the sport with a lot of these guys and
these coaches, it makes them want to play for you.
I've been around enough of these programs at UEL that
I hear that as a common theme that these guys
really care. It's not just a business here. They truly
genuinely care about you as a player and a person
rather than just you being you know, an X or
O on the on the field or whatever the competition
state of where you're at. And I think that is
truly important because that is what is going to matter
most when things are hard in games and guys are
not things are not going their way in different games,
They're gonna play for you because they know you care
about them. And so this is an example of that.
Getting the commitment from him, and then he also got
a commitment from Charlie Crabs, who also was at Marshall.
He is a senior and this will be his last
season coming in to twenty twenty seven. He's six foot two,
two hundred and fifteen pounds, and he was under coach
Sanderford for two seasons before obviously Sandy came to UL
this past year. In twenty twenty five, he was five
and two with a two to ninety two ERA in
twenty seven outings for the thunder and heard he gave
up thirty six hits in fifty two and a third
innings with twenty four walks and forty strikeouts. And this
past season, Crabs was two and three with three saves
and a six point zero eight ERA in twenty four
appearances in forty innings. He surrendered forty five hits, twenty
three walks, and struck out thirty eight. So again he
talked about how much he cares about coach Sandford and
if I can go and pull that DM up of
where I reached out to him, because I'm also reading
from the article that Kevin put Kevin foot excuse me
put out talking about the two commitments with the Advocate,
I asked him what went into his decision as well.
He said, getting back with coach Sanderford was a huge
part of it. But during my recruiting process, I just
started to fall in love with the Cajun's winning culture
and especially what Coach Diggs preaches to the program. So
another component about this that I haven't talked about. Neither
one of these guys took a visit, None of them have.
Neither one of them have come to Lafayette just quite yet.
They'll be here later, probably in the back half of
June to take their official visits. They are committing off
of the strength of Coach Sanderford and off the relationship
they have cultivated with him and what they believe can
happen based on what Coach Diggs has told them through conversations.
And that is paramount because you can wow people with
glitz and glam, and you can show them great facilities
and uniforms, and you can give them an NIO check
and all of these things like that. But when guys
are willing to commit to you off the strength of hey, man,
I care about you as a person and I want
you to be great in life, you can't beat that.
So you get two bullpen arms. You get two arms
added to your bullpen. That is one being a very
experienced writy I believe Charlie krabs Is and then Blaine
Albright having two years of eligibility, somebody that can help
you as well with what you already have on your staff.
The ty Romans that saw your Cruits, the Parker Smith's,
the Hayden Pearson's, the cam Riley's, the Landing Victorians, like
you're adding a ple tour of guys to give you
an opportunity to be really, really special in twenty twenty seven.
If I'm not mistaken, I think I have a sheet
pulled up where you guys know I like to do
rock layouts, and I can see it fully and I
think I did when I know I have one for football,
because that's what's coming up on my sheets guide. Let
me see I did do one for baseball. So right now,
out of your bullpen, based on what we've heard of
guys returning and the commitments that you have you currently have,
I think this is sixteen pitchers, Ty Rowman, Garrett Carter,
cam Riley, Parker Smith, Hayden Pearson, saw your Pruett, Chase Morgan,
potentially Geral Tilett, land In, Victorian Bryce Wilson, Evan Vincent
from Turlin's Catholic Trent Lape. I'm trying to remember how
to pronounce his name. Correctly, but he's the BIBSI transfer
coming in David and Kubat, Maddix, Sullivan, Charlie Cribs, and
Blaine Albright. I think that is sixteen pitchers that you
have in your bullpen, and what I've been told is
they could be adding more out of the transfer portal.
They're looking to add a catcher and maybe some infielder
or outfielder as well. As the portal window will be
said to close on June thirtieth.
Speaker 2: It's June the.
Speaker 1: Seventh as of now, so they have plenty of time
to work through those things to see what guys they
want to add to their program. So it was a
very eventful week, a big week for the Raging Cajun's
football and baseball programs as football gets three commitments and
now gets their twenty twenty seven class up to nine players.
Baseball adds a pair of arms to the bullpen as well.
So that's going to wrap up this episode here on
Rage and Rundown. If you've made it to this point
in the video, thank you so much. Please do me
a favor, like it, share it, and leave a comment
down below. The most importantly, make sure you subscribe to
the channel. If you're listening, follow the podcast feed, rate
the show, and leave us a review, because that's going
to help us get in front of more raging Cajun fans.
Just like yourself, I'm your guy, jam Marcus Fitzpatrick. We'll
see you guys next time.